Bible Students

Based on “War of Words” by Tripp (chapters 3 and 4)

Even in Christian conversation, words are used for war constantly. Words are accusatory. They began to be accusatory in the Garden of Eden, and remain accusatory until today. Now, no one has to teach a child to use words for war. Children lie and blame others for their benefit, and no one instructs them to do so. The war of words needs no introduction in anyone’s life, as everyone is inclined to use words for war. The sin of the war of words is much deeper than the words themselves, but is rather based on a deep spiritual need. 

This spiritual need, expressed in corrupted words, is healed through the coming of the Word, who perfectly represented God to humanity. Through this Word, all things were made and made for His sake. The Word was pure from the beginning, without corruption. In contrast, the words of man have been corrupted since even the Garden. The Word was not born of man only, as the corrupted words are, but of man and God. God’s Words have made Him known to all, and have brought together mankind and God. God used human words and communicated through His Word. The Word has began to heal what human words have corrupted. 

Evil words are not a result of ignorance, but of hate. Words of accusation and blame are not ignorantly said, though, it could be said they were made ignorantly, if ignorantly means to look away from one’s own evil. In ignorance, many people sin, but this is a willing ignorance of their own sin. They choose to look away from their sin, which they know is there, and therefore can not sin without knowing it. No person utters evil words without knowing it. It may not feel evil, but if one examines their words they can find the evil they speak. 

Words lead to hurt and condemnation because the tongue is untamable. The war of words can not be overcome without spiritual help to tame the tongue. The war Christians wage is not a matter of flesh and blood, but of spiritual things. There are great spiritual problems, even for the Christian. There needs to be more than training of words, even going so far as to need the help of God Himself. The war of words is a war for control, which can only be overcome through giving control to Christ. The individual is what is wrong, not the circumstance. One can never blame their circumstances, especially not the Christian, because Christ spoke kind words even in torture and death. No one is too weak to speak good of another, and no one has the wrong personality or past to do so. The only thing wrong is the will. The will desires evil, and so evil comes from the tongue. Everyone must strive to love others, and the good man brings forth good words from his heart. However, the evil man brings forth evil from his heart. Communication can not be solved at the level of using different words, but of having a different heart. No one believes fixing a tree at the fruit will fix the fruit, but rather the one must heal the tree at the roots if they desire better fruit.